Many times you see horses race with a different driver from one week to the next. Should the sulky be listed as (Change of Equipment) on the program if its a different sulky used than the previous start.

Many times you see horses race with a different driver from one week to the next. Should the sulky be listed as (Change of Equipment) on the program if its a different sulky used than the previous start. I was looking at some videos at www.sulkydynamics.com and I think the sulkies themselves could be a major factor in handicapping a race.

i dont think its the bike so much as the driver and his experience in said bike would i like to see the equipment changes listed in the PP's? sure.would i ignore it by the time race 3 rolled around? probably

Many times you see horses race with a different driver from one week to the next. Should the sulky be listed as (Change of Equipment) on the program if its a different sulky used than the previous start. I was looking at some videos at www.sulkydynamics.com and I think the sulkies themselves could be a major factor in handicapping a race.

How about listing whats in the needle ? And let us know if they won't be receiving one that night.

I find them announcing bikes at the Big M useless information. I applaud them for providing the information however. IMO its useless because unless you record what bike was used last time, how would you know advantage versus disadvantage?It would seem like a sports bettor being told a guy is going from a pine to maple bat in Baseball....if the guy can't hit...doesn't matter if he's holding a telephone pole....he still won't hit.....

I find them announcing bikes at the Big M useless information. I applaud them for providing the information however. IMO its useless because unless you record what bike was used last time, how would you know advantage versus disadvantage?It would seem like a sports bettor being told a guy is going from a pine to maple bat in Baseball....if the guy can't hit...doesn't matter if he's holding a telephone pole....he still won't hit.....

I find them announcing bikes at the Big M useless information. I applaud them for providing the information however. IMO its useless because unless you record what bike was used last time, how would you know advantage versus disadvantage?It would seem like a sports bettor being told a guy is going from a pine to maple bat in Baseball....if the guy can't hit...doesn't matter if he's holding a telephone pole....he still won't hit.....

Many times you see horses race with a different driver from one week to the next. Should the sulky be listed as (Change of Equipment) on the program if its a different sulky used than the previous start. I was looking at some videos at www.sulkydynamics.com and I think the sulkies themselves could be a major factor in handicapping a race.

Sulkies are almost a NON FACTOR in handicapping... If you are using this angle you probably need not gamble...

I find them announcing bikes at the Big M useless information. I applaud them for providing the information however. IMO its useless because unless you record what bike was used last time, how would you know advantage versus disadvantage?It would seem like a sports bettor being told a guy is going from a pine to maple bat in Baseball....if the guy can't hit...doesn't matter if he's holding a telephone pole....he still won't hit.....

Did the cork in the bat really help Sammy ?I agree with the bike info.

I find them announcing bikes at the Big M useless information. I applaud them for providing the information however. IMO its useless because unless you record what bike was used last time, how would you know advantage versus disadvantage?It would seem like a sports bettor being told a guy is going from a pine to maple bat in Baseball....if the guy can't hit...doesn't matter if he's holding a telephone pole....he still won't hit.....

you may think it was useless, but for a short time, they kept stats on their websites,,,, and the numbers didn't lie.

I say it should be programmed and kept as a record.... Again why would giving information to the customer for them to decide to take into account or not make sense ?

There was a time in the 1970's when the modified sulkey came into being and they noted it on the pp's as either modified or conventional. Then came the Super BIke and added one more designation. Today they have so many bikes that it would drive the charter and paddock judge crazy. I personally have written to have these bikes listed in the pp's but I will never hold my breath until it comes into being.

This sport is on life-support and when the state's take away the slot/table games revenue from the racing and breeding funds, you can see racing only at the county fairs and a very few tracks. The whole gaming experience is going through a phase as many more states are opening up new slot palors and table games casinos. There is only so much money to go around and in many states, their very own daily lottery revenues are declining.

With the bike issue to be addressed and to leave other issues like medication testing and confliciting rules that govern this sport from jurisdiction to jusrisdiction seems illogical. Standardize all the rules of racing and medications testing throughout North America and make just one license that is accepted throughout the sport. Then maybe we could address the bike listings in the program issue.

If a horse has a UFO hooked to him one week with a top notch driver and races well, the next week the horse has a an old Tel Star and a top notch driver, should you then expect they same performance as the week before. Then what should you expect with an average driver using the old Tel Star. I think the older sulky will hinder both drivers. And that hindrance would be magnified if everyone else was using a UFO or similar modern sulky.